We expect this pop-up season to be stronger than ever for a variety of reasons. These include companies looking to pop-up shops to help them gain extra exposure for their brand as in-store visits decline, to get rid of excess inventory that built up while their retail stores were closed, and to boost any ecommerce traffic that has grown as people turn to shopping online more and more.

Jake Anderson, CEO of Forsake an online footwear company who held a pop-up in Boston, said they were looking for more exposure in their home market and wanted the learning experience of getting to engage directly with their customers. Forsake is an ecommerce-based business and this gave them a chance to see how a retail presence could affect their brand and sales.

Lesley S., HR Director at an international toy company, said they decided to do a pop-up for additional brand exposure as well. “We’re a relatively unknown brand in this country, so the idea was to increase visibility and brand awareness on our own terms”.

Ivory Ella, a largely social and ecommerce apparel brand, used consumer data analytics to determine their "Pop Up” location in Naperville, Illinois, according to Diana Sabol, CFO.

Becoming a Success Story

Lots of things contribute to the success of a pop-up but location, marketing/events and having a strong sales team are the top three factors that can contribute to a successful in-store experience. Storefront, an online marketplace for short term retail spaces, helps brands locate ideal locations in their chosen cities and can connect the brands with vendors to help facilitate a successful pop-up.

Marketing and Events are necessary to drive traffic to your pop-up, in addition to choosing a high traffic location. All of our clients have stressed the importance of having a strong marketing plan to let the public know about their pop-up and their brand. Heidi Speranza, VP of Merchandising & Planning at Aerosoles, advises “While a pop -up is a great opportunity to feature your product and speak directly to your customers, it is also tremendous marketing tool, so plan and budget accordingly for varied marketing / digital initiatives.”   

Building a strong sales team is also key to turning your pop-up into a success story. The team at Forsake found there is a need for a store manager: one person whose sole job is being responsible for the ultimate success/failure of the store. This person can come from inside your organization or can be someone you hire just for the duration of the pop-up. Lesley agreed that having a store manager was crucial, suggesting that companies “pay shop managers as much as you can afford to and set expectations in the beginning for their role.  Let them know what kind of issues they should handle on their own without your involvement, how and what they should communicate with you, and what their authority and decision-making latitude is so that you’re not getting calls every two seconds for something they should be handling, but they also aren’t going rogue with their employees.”

Hiring the right candidates for the sales team can be tricky, as most are short term positions and you’ll need to train the team on your product and brand story. Lesley said “she didn’t realize there would be so many issues recruiting and retaining employees even if we paid at a level above usual retail stores.”  Hiring a staffing firm can take this concern off the table for you.

We worked with Aerosoles on a very successful pop-up shop for their brand and Sperenza said “Emerging Blue was invaluable in this process. It was a priority for us to have the right brand ambassadors representing the Aerosoles brand.  Emerging Blue provided quality candidates for us to work with, along with the systems to manage the payroll process which was essential.  The team embraced the product knowledge we offered to ensure they were confident in speaking to the customers, and the customer service they offered was impeccable. They were reliable and really excited to be part of our pop-up experience.”

Unexpected Challenges

Often a brand will kick off a pop-up and then quickly run into issues that can derail sales or cause problems they didn’t anticipate in their planning.

Some of the top issues stem from the same things we listed in our previous section – location, marketing and the sales team. For Anderson, he said they “underestimated just how important events are to driving your own store traffic and sales”. They were able to quickly adapt and create events that consistently drew crowds to increase their sales. Location can also play a role here – having a store in a high traffic area can ensure that your pop-up is never empty of customers.

Finding a strong sales team in a city outside of your normal market can also create challenges. For Sabol, having a recruiting team work with them was “a huge time saver, helpful in a market we wouldn’t have the knowledge base to hire” and enabled them to “have reliable, highly trained people work our Pop up store”.

Other brands have found issues relating to selling their product in a pop-up. Think about how and when your product is used and schedule your pop-up accordingly. For example, a swimwear company will have more success in the summer months and if your product is too large to carry, be sure to offer drop shipping to increase sales. Sperenza says “we found ourselves needing to flow product more often than initially planned because of the multiple repeat visits by our customers, who wanted to see new product, and try and buy more frequently!” A good problem to have!

Final Words

Pop-ups can be an amazing way to get more exposure for your brand and help you to sell more products without the commitment of a permanent retail location in this unprecedented environment, especially if you can find a location with outdoor space. As the pandemic continues to keep retail doors closed and drive consumers online, pop-ups can help brands strengthen relationships with their customers and find new ones in the process.

Questions on how to get started with a pop-up? Feel free to reach out to us here. Check out our additional tips on pop-up’s.